Thursday, August 12, 2010

Deep in the dog days

Even though there is a heat advisory today signs of fall are appearing. The red wing blackbirds that were seemingly omnipresent don’t hang around much anymore. Many birds are flocking up as the get ready to make the trip south.The tomatoes are ripening at an alarming pace this week. The yellow butterflies called clouded and orange sulphurs are going crazy on top of the ridge.But it is unmistakably summer. I sweat through my shirt every time I go painting. I am sick of trying to hold a mark with your arm covered in mosquitoes.

The corn is high. I hate it. It blocks the land and birds and obscures views and vistas. Nothing screams out inspiration like factory farming. It feels so wrong, and since so much of what I do is based off of feeling I kinda hate this time of year. If you can find a field of anything else though there is much color to paint, but because we grow so much of this shit for ethanol and our cheap diabetes inducing food supply, it is hard to find much of anything else around here, except soybeans, which isn’t much better.

I painted this barn whose owner is a 76 year old bachelor farmer named Merwin. As he walked his dog down the road I could see my grandpa in him with his slow gait and arthritic arms. It felt good to paint this barn.

The panoramic image is on Bryn Rd, which is really cool but I don't like it as much since they started planting corn.

About Me

I paint completely from life or from memory and that I find that spending time on a computer gets in the way of my process of daily observations and emotional connection to the land.
Please email me if you would like to get in touch.